I can’t sort this out can I?

[MustBeInthewater]

Many many years ago I lived with someone (friend) We were the same age and they had a lot of MH issues. Some very specific things and there were some incidents that happened relating to MH.

I recently decided to get life insurance - pretty straightforward claim (I thought) until they requested a gp report. Documented in MY medical notes are presentations at a+e for things that never happened but the times dates and details are the exact medical history of my friend. I can only assume that my name and dob were given on arrival. This was such a long time ago and I’ve had no idea at all. It’s never been mentioned and seemingly was buried in my notes but the gp doing the form had gone through everything with a fine tooth comb and uncovered this .

my GP will not entertain the idea at all that this is not my history. Short of getting a confession from the person involved (which won’t happen) I’m now stuck with serious inaccuracies on my record.

I don’t know what to do. Repeatedly telling my gp has now resulted in a situation where they are saying that I’m in denial and that this is a potential issue as I am not dealing with things and they would have hoped I would say ‘yes this happened but I’ve worked through things and it was a long time ago and I’m in a better place now’ but WHY would anyone admit to something they didn’t do . For one element of it I said I could go in and show that I don’t have something that was in my notes as proof but they said no.

i don’t really know what the point of me posting this is but I feel so frustrated. It also made me think how on presentation at a and e obviously ID isn’t checked and this had gone unnoticed for so many years that it’s too late for me to rectify it. I’m feeling very angry and let down

I’d be interested to see the signature on any prescriptions but I don’t know how long they’re held.

Attendance at A&E usually involves a letter being sent to your GP to say when you attended and why. If the MH attendances are as significant as you're saying they are then surely the GP should have followed it up with you to see how you are/review you/change medication etc. It's poor practice from the GP not following up a significant attendance at A&E, especially if there were multiple attendances.

This is what I would have expected - surely a referral to MH services ? So I need to check the SAR and see if there’s anything else

In recent years it’s good practice to follow up A&E attendances with a GP appointment, usually in the discharge summary it would say ‘GP to do XYZ’
this was a long time ago and you haven’t actually read them yet.
get the SAR then you have context.

Someone going go A&E with an injury will be treated physically and they might not even disclose it was self harm.

you can’t do a referral to MH services without patient consent anyway

The hospital can send letters to an address you give them when you're in A&E rather than on the GP's system. When I was a student, I was only living in the city with my hometown right outside so I didnt bother changing GP's. I just got the train back for appointments. But I had to go to A&E for something and needed outpatient follow up care. I gave them my student address so my parents wouldnt need to bring my letters to me.

She could have given her own address if any follow up correspondence from the hospital was expected. So that would be the smoking gun you need. Fingers crossed she has done that.

I think I would call your friends bluff. Send her something in writing saying you've sought legal advice and have a financial claim against her which could run into thousands. And that you have been advised you to go to the police. Its only a white lie- don't mention a solicitor. Say she has 7 days to put what's happened in writing. Say you don't want her to have criminal record for dishonesty, and you are sure she doesn't want you to be penalised for her actions either. Might be worth a try.....

the problem is it is such a long while ago...one potential avenue is blood test results, if any of these A&E attendances resulted in bloods, this may still be recorded and may potentially show discrepancies??? the whole history that was taken when she was assessed in A&E may also show up discrepancies so if you can see your full records that would be interesting.

Oh no! Can you go over your GP's head?

Do you think they think you are just trying to get them to rid your records of anything that could prevent you from getting life insurance? Presume this must happen. As clearly they can’t just go wiping things at patients’ requests if they prove unfavourable to the patient. Even though these things actually didn’t happen to you!!. Would anything like blood type of your friend or other factors be recorded which could be physically proven to not correlate with yours for eg??
Good luck tho it sounds a nightmare.

Yes I think this may be the case. Tbh it probably rarely if ever happens and all they see is my name/dob so they are presuming it was me and that I’m in denial

I would tell your "friend" that unless she writes a signed confession and helps you to sort this out, you will be reporting her to the police for identity theft.

There will be evidence available. Work commitments/other appointments when you were supposedly attending medical appointments. Photos, CCTV, addresses that she has given them, phone numbers that she has provided. If she won't help and the GP surgery continues to be obtuse, police and complaint to ICO would be my next steps in your situation.

Have you requested a SAR from your GP and the hospital involved. Definitely do both. If you have an extensive medical history (legitimately) you may want to give a date range otherwise you'll be swamped with paperwork.

Raise it with PALs at the hospital and copy in the Head of Information governance/Data Protection Officer.

Explain the whole situation and they will launch an investigation. It will take a few weeks though for them to turnaround. Give them the details of the other patient so they can compare info on records....she might have given details which match (phone number for eg) which is a clue.

If their response is unsatisfactory then ICO is next.

Do you feel it was a mix up at hospital or that your friend gave them your details??
If they were floridly unwell this could be understandable - if not that’s a whole other story in itself!
Not a priority for you atm but the sort of thing R4’s You & Yours would report on. Does raise the serious question about identity, GDPR, data protection & identity theft. Quite scarey really. The way you describe them telling you you’re in denial & you need to accept this is quite chilling. Almost dystopian or like an episode of Black Mirror.
Sorry OP not what you need to hear RT but still!

What an absolute nightmare OP.

It seems like you’ve had good advice but I’d be tempted to text the ‘friend’ and say that you were sorry she wasn’t to able to assist and that you’ve informed the Obudsman, are engaging a solicitor and the police may become involved so she may be contacted at some point.

i’d be furious.

Medical records have different legislation, you cannot request for them to simply be amended.

I think the gp was trying to reassure me it was ok to have had MH issues-which is true but it’s not my medical history and the more I said that I just kept being told it’s my name and dob so it’s undeniable 🤦‍♀️

Investigate a no win no fee solicitor who specialises in medical negligence. A proper solicitor, not a cheapy “no win no fee” bollocks outfit. They do exist. They would at the very least be able to advise you what to do next, as they deal with medical records all the time.

Oh ok! Hope you get it sorted - sounds like might take a while 🤞

This is awful. As a PP said, once you get the records, check all addresses they have for you and phone numbers. Particularly the latter.

Yep, mine said I had asthma. I asked so many times for it to be removed
Eventually I just turned up for the asthma review for my non existent asthma and got "you don't have asthma!"
Well yes now can we delete that off my notes?

That's awful Op. I would put an email to the practice surgery to confirm as discussed that the records are wrong & you know they cannot amend them but obviously anyone knowing your name & DOB could be anyone & whilst an unlikely event you can see someone experiencing MH problems may have thought it a safer route than using their own name. If there's any assistance they can give you to escalate this & correct records, you'd be grateful.

Then forward that to other agencies. I guess it would be helpful to say you are pretty sure you know who did it. There may possibly be referrals where someone can verify it wasn't you.

Good luck

I think you are handling this wisely. One step at a time.

Don't keep pressuring your friend. She's obviously not going to come clean to you. Wait until you have all the facts in front of you via the SAR. Then you can assess your next course of action.

Please don't let this overwhelm you. I can imagine how upsetting and frustrating this is, but don't let it dominate your thoughts or over-ride your plans for the future.

Keep calm, let the process take its course. Be analytical and take the advice of @Menora who obviously knows how this needs to be handled.

OP, I am horrified and fucking livid on your behalf in equal measure. Do you think your ex flatmate deliberately gave your details at A&E to avoid things going on her record? Is there a plausible alternative?

I agree the SAR should hopefully throw a lot of light on this and that you need to keep at it via whatever means are necessary. Good luck!

Clearly your friend must have given your information. It’s not just your DOB, it’s your name and GP details too.

So, I work in GP land and know GDPR.
In essence, you have 2 records you state are false.

1. Hospital record
2. GP record which includes the Hospital interactions.

The GP cannot delete the record without proof it is false - so you would need your friend to confess. BUT - you can ADD a statement to your GP record referring to these documents stating what you believe has happened and they are not your records.

You can also ask Hospital to do the same.

There is a possibility it is not your friend and the hospital entered and selected the wrong record- it is the hospital you need to raise concerns with. Don't forget to do a SAR for the hospital, too, as GPs only receive a summary and if they did blood tests they may have info that could be proven as not yours.

Once corrected by the hospital your GP record can be amended- but do the addition anyway so it reflects your views - this is perfectly acceptable.